Trump Is Finishing Russia’s Smear Campaign Against America
In 2016, Putin had a plan to discredit U.S. elections. In 2020, Republicans are executing it.
By WILLIAM SALETAN
DEC 11, 2020
Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, and abandoned America’s commitments to democracy and human rights. He has excused Vladimir Putin’s crimes, yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East, and dismissed Russia’s 2016 election interference as a hoax. Now Trump has been voted out by Americans, but he’s still serving Russia. He’s devoting his final days in office—and suggesting he might devote his post-presidency—to a longstanding Russian objective: destroying faith in U.S. elections.
For weeks, Trump has rejected Joe Biden’s victory as a fraud. In interviews, tweets, speeches, and a campaign rally in Georgia, Trump has accused Democrats of using dead people, undocumented immigrants, and software to manipulate the outcome. These allegations aren’t just lies. They’re replications, almost word for word, of propaganda that was spread by Russia in the United States and adopted by the Trump campaign in 2016. Russia expected Trump to lose that election, and it planned to portray his loss as evidence that American elections were rigged, that the U.S. government was illegitimate, and that the United States wasn’t really a democracy. Now that Trump has lost to Biden, that campaign of slander is underway. But it’s not being driven by Russians. It’s being driven by Republicans.
Russia’s strategy is detailed in three reports: one by the U.S. Intelligence Community, another by special counsel Robert Mueller, and a third by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. The ultimate goal of the operation wasn’t to elect Trump. It was to spread the idea that “U.S. election results cannot be trusted.” In 2016, Putin’s propagandists used fake Facebook pages and Twitter accounts (“Army of Jesus,” “Secured Borders,” “Tea Party News”) to plant bogus rumors of “voter fraud” in multiple states. They told the same horror stories and used the same trigger words Republicans use now: “rigged,” “dead people,” “illegal aliens,” globalist-controlled voting machines, “tens of thousands of ineligible mail in … votes,” and “voter fraud caught in Philadelphia.”
Trump and his followers parroted this propaganda during the 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump retweeted fake “#VoterFraud” updates written by Russian operatives. Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, Michael Flynn, and other Trump campaign advisers also retweeted messages from the Russian accounts. When the Russians circulated a false rumor that voting machines were rigged against Trump, he repeated it on Fox News. After the election, when Russian front groups spread the word that “illegals” and “machines” had robbed Trump of the popular vote, he repeated that, too. “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” he declared.
Putin’s original plan, as detailed in the U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2017 report, was to assail Trump’s putative defeat, through Russia’s global media network and pseudo-American front groups, as a fraud. The Russians had even “prepared a Twitter campaign” for election night, with the hashtag “#DemocracyRIP.” The goal was to discredit American democracy and “cripple” the expected new president, Hillary Clinton, by glorifying Trump as “an outsider victimized by a corrupt political establishment and faulty democratic election process.” When Trump won, the Russians popped Champagne and suspended their plan.
...The next step in Trump’s service to Moscow might be a Trump media empire that lambastes the United States as a fake democracy. That’s what some American intelligence experts predicted in 2016: a “Trump television and social media venture” that would wage “an ongoing battle to tarnish the legitimacy of the electoral system.” Trump won that year, so the post-election smear campaign against American democracy didn’t happen. It’s happening now.
You have to remember, standing up to Russia doesn’t matter anymore.
...amazing how many opportunities we give the Russians opportunities to be right, but then there's nobody dumber than dumb Americans.
Especially those who let their social media ads influence them.
Our 50 distinguished IC Old Pros really nailed it on the Hunter Biden Russian disinformation campaign.
They've been on a roll since the Berlin Wall fell on them.
By any objective criteria, this part is pure hogwash : Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, ...yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East
There is nobody as dumb as a dumb American.
Yes. You prove it daily. Tell us how NATO & Ukraine are weaker now than they were 4 years ago
or how great Putin is doing in Syria, working with Assad & Erdogan.
All that shine can gloss it over. I’ll let you tell us.
Trump Is Finishing Russia’s Smear Campaign Against America
In 2016, Putin had a plan to discredit U.S. elections. In 2020, Republicans are executing it.
By WILLIAM SALETAN
DEC 11, 2020
Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, and abandoned America’s commitments to democracy and human rights. He has excused Vladimir Putin’s crimes, yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East, and dismissed Russia’s 2016 election interference as a hoax. Now Trump has been voted out by Americans, but he’s still serving Russia. He’s devoting his final days in office—and suggesting he might devote his post-presidency—to a longstanding Russian objective: destroying faith in U.S. elections.
For weeks, Trump has rejected Joe Biden’s victory as a fraud. In interviews, tweets, speeches, and a campaign rally in Georgia, Trump has accused Democrats of using dead people, undocumented immigrants, and software to manipulate the outcome. These allegations aren’t just lies. They’re replications, almost word for word, of propaganda that was spread by Russia in the United States and adopted by the Trump campaign in 2016. Russia expected Trump to lose that election, and it planned to portray his loss as evidence that American elections were rigged, that the U.S. government was illegitimate, and that the United States wasn’t really a democracy. Now that Trump has lost to Biden, that campaign of slander is underway. But it’s not being driven by Russians. It’s being driven by Republicans.
Russia’s strategy is detailed in three reports: one by the U.S. Intelligence Community, another by special counsel Robert Mueller, and a third by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. The ultimate goal of the operation wasn’t to elect Trump. It was to spread the idea that “U.S. election results cannot be trusted.” In 2016, Putin’s propagandists used fake Facebook pages and Twitter accounts (“Army of Jesus,” “Secured Borders,” “Tea Party News”) to plant bogus rumors of “voter fraud” in multiple states. They told the same horror stories and used the same trigger words Republicans use now: “rigged,” “dead people,” “illegal aliens,” globalist-controlled voting machines, “tens of thousands of ineligible mail in … votes,” and “voter fraud caught in Philadelphia.”
Trump and his followers parroted this propaganda during the 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump retweeted fake “#VoterFraud” updates written by Russian operatives. Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, Michael Flynn, and other Trump campaign advisers also retweeted messages from the Russian accounts. When the Russians circulated a false rumor that voting machines were rigged against Trump, he repeated it on Fox News. After the election, when Russian front groups spread the word that “illegals” and “machines” had robbed Trump of the popular vote, he repeated that, too. “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” he declared.
Putin’s original plan, as detailed in the U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2017 report, was to assail Trump’s putative defeat, through Russia’s global media network and pseudo-American front groups, as a fraud. The Russians had even “prepared a Twitter campaign” for election night, with the hashtag “#DemocracyRIP.” The goal was to discredit American democracy and “cripple” the expected new president, Hillary Clinton, by glorifying Trump as “an outsider victimized by a corrupt political establishment and faulty democratic election process.” When Trump won, the Russians popped Champagne and suspended their plan.
...The next step in Trump’s service to Moscow might be a Trump media empire that lambastes the United States as a fake democracy. That’s what some American intelligence experts predicted in 2016: a “Trump television and social media venture” that would wage “an ongoing battle to tarnish the legitimacy of the electoral system.” Trump won that year, so the post-election smear campaign against American democracy didn’t happen. It’s happening now.
You have to remember, standing up to Russia doesn’t matter anymore.
...amazing how many opportunities we give the Russians opportunities to be right, but then there's nobody dumber than dumb Americans.
Especially those who let their social media ads influence them.
Our 50 distinguished IC Old Pros really nailed it on the Hunter Biden Russian disinformation campaign.
They've been on a roll since the Berlin Wall fell on them.
By any objective criteria, this part is pure hogwash : Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, ...yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East
There is nobody as dumb as a dumb American.
Yes. You prove it daily. Tell us how NATO & Ukraine are weaker now than they were 4 years ago
or how great Putin is doing in Syria, working with Assad & Erdogan.
All that shine can gloss it over. I’ll let you tell us.
Trump Is Finishing Russia’s Smear Campaign Against America
In 2016, Putin had a plan to discredit U.S. elections. In 2020, Republicans are executing it.
By WILLIAM SALETAN
DEC 11, 2020
Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, and abandoned America’s commitments to democracy and human rights. He has excused Vladimir Putin’s crimes, yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East, and dismissed Russia’s 2016 election interference as a hoax. Now Trump has been voted out by Americans, but he’s still serving Russia. He’s devoting his final days in office—and suggesting he might devote his post-presidency—to a longstanding Russian objective: destroying faith in U.S. elections.
For weeks, Trump has rejected Joe Biden’s victory as a fraud. In interviews, tweets, speeches, and a campaign rally in Georgia, Trump has accused Democrats of using dead people, undocumented immigrants, and software to manipulate the outcome. These allegations aren’t just lies. They’re replications, almost word for word, of propaganda that was spread by Russia in the United States and adopted by the Trump campaign in 2016. Russia expected Trump to lose that election, and it planned to portray his loss as evidence that American elections were rigged, that the U.S. government was illegitimate, and that the United States wasn’t really a democracy. Now that Trump has lost to Biden, that campaign of slander is underway. But it’s not being driven by Russians. It’s being driven by Republicans.
Russia’s strategy is detailed in three reports: one by the U.S. Intelligence Community, another by special counsel Robert Mueller, and a third by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. The ultimate goal of the operation wasn’t to elect Trump. It was to spread the idea that “U.S. election results cannot be trusted.” In 2016, Putin’s propagandists used fake Facebook pages and Twitter accounts (“Army of Jesus,” “Secured Borders,” “Tea Party News”) to plant bogus rumors of “voter fraud” in multiple states. They told the same horror stories and used the same trigger words Republicans use now: “rigged,” “dead people,” “illegal aliens,” globalist-controlled voting machines, “tens of thousands of ineligible mail in … votes,” and “voter fraud caught in Philadelphia.”
Trump and his followers parroted this propaganda during the 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump retweeted fake “#VoterFraud” updates written by Russian operatives. Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, Michael Flynn, and other Trump campaign advisers also retweeted messages from the Russian accounts. When the Russians circulated a false rumor that voting machines were rigged against Trump, he repeated it on Fox News. After the election, when Russian front groups spread the word that “illegals” and “machines” had robbed Trump of the popular vote, he repeated that, too. “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” he declared.
Putin’s original plan, as detailed in the U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2017 report, was to assail Trump’s putative defeat, through Russia’s global media network and pseudo-American front groups, as a fraud. The Russians had even “prepared a Twitter campaign” for election night, with the hashtag “#DemocracyRIP.” The goal was to discredit American democracy and “cripple” the expected new president, Hillary Clinton, by glorifying Trump as “an outsider victimized by a corrupt political establishment and faulty democratic election process.” When Trump won, the Russians popped Champagne and suspended their plan.
...The next step in Trump’s service to Moscow might be a Trump media empire that lambastes the United States as a fake democracy. That’s what some American intelligence experts predicted in 2016: a “Trump television and social media venture” that would wage “an ongoing battle to tarnish the legitimacy of the electoral system.” Trump won that year, so the post-election smear campaign against American democracy didn’t happen. It’s happening now.
You have to remember, standing up to Russia doesn’t matter anymore.
...amazing how many opportunities we give the Russians opportunities to be right, but then there's nobody dumber than dumb Americans.
Especially those who let their social media ads influence them.
Our 50 distinguished IC Old Pros really nailed it on the Hunter Biden Russian disinformation campaign.
They've been on a roll since the Berlin Wall fell on them.
By any objective criteria, this part is pure hogwash : Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, ...yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East
There is nobody as dumb as a dumb American.
Yes. You prove it daily. Tell us how NATO & Ukraine are weaker now than they were 4 years ago
or how great Putin is doing in Syria, working with Assad & Erdogan.
All that shine can gloss it over. I’ll let you tell us.
Trump Is Finishing Russia’s Smear Campaign Against America
In 2016, Putin had a plan to discredit U.S. elections. In 2020, Republicans are executing it.
By WILLIAM SALETAN
DEC 11, 2020
Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, and abandoned America’s commitments to democracy and human rights. He has excused Vladimir Putin’s crimes, yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East, and dismissed Russia’s 2016 election interference as a hoax. Now Trump has been voted out by Americans, but he’s still serving Russia. He’s devoting his final days in office—and suggesting he might devote his post-presidency—to a longstanding Russian objective: destroying faith in U.S. elections.
For weeks, Trump has rejected Joe Biden’s victory as a fraud. In interviews, tweets, speeches, and a campaign rally in Georgia, Trump has accused Democrats of using dead people, undocumented immigrants, and software to manipulate the outcome. These allegations aren’t just lies. They’re replications, almost word for word, of propaganda that was spread by Russia in the United States and adopted by the Trump campaign in 2016. Russia expected Trump to lose that election, and it planned to portray his loss as evidence that American elections were rigged, that the U.S. government was illegitimate, and that the United States wasn’t really a democracy. Now that Trump has lost to Biden, that campaign of slander is underway. But it’s not being driven by Russians. It’s being driven by Republicans.
Russia’s strategy is detailed in three reports: one by the U.S. Intelligence Community, another by special counsel Robert Mueller, and a third by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. The ultimate goal of the operation wasn’t to elect Trump. It was to spread the idea that “U.S. election results cannot be trusted.” In 2016, Putin’s propagandists used fake Facebook pages and Twitter accounts (“Army of Jesus,” “Secured Borders,” “Tea Party News”) to plant bogus rumors of “voter fraud” in multiple states. They told the same horror stories and used the same trigger words Republicans use now: “rigged,” “dead people,” “illegal aliens,” globalist-controlled voting machines, “tens of thousands of ineligible mail in … votes,” and “voter fraud caught in Philadelphia.”
Trump and his followers parroted this propaganda during the 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump retweeted fake “#VoterFraud” updates written by Russian operatives. Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, Michael Flynn, and other Trump campaign advisers also retweeted messages from the Russian accounts. When the Russians circulated a false rumor that voting machines were rigged against Trump, he repeated it on Fox News. After the election, when Russian front groups spread the word that “illegals” and “machines” had robbed Trump of the popular vote, he repeated that, too. “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” he declared.
Putin’s original plan, as detailed in the U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2017 report, was to assail Trump’s putative defeat, through Russia’s global media network and pseudo-American front groups, as a fraud. The Russians had even “prepared a Twitter campaign” for election night, with the hashtag “#DemocracyRIP.” The goal was to discredit American democracy and “cripple” the expected new president, Hillary Clinton, by glorifying Trump as “an outsider victimized by a corrupt political establishment and faulty democratic election process.” When Trump won, the Russians popped Champagne and suspended their plan.
...The next step in Trump’s service to Moscow might be a Trump media empire that lambastes the United States as a fake democracy. That’s what some American intelligence experts predicted in 2016: a “Trump television and social media venture” that would wage “an ongoing battle to tarnish the legitimacy of the electoral system.” Trump won that year, so the post-election smear campaign against American democracy didn’t happen. It’s happening now.
You have to remember, standing up to Russia doesn’t matter anymore.
...amazing how many opportunities we give the Russians opportunities to be right, but then there's nobody dumber than dumb Americans.
Especially those who let their social media ads influence them.
Our 50 distinguished IC Old Pros really nailed it on the Hunter Biden Russian disinformation campaign.
They've been on a roll since the Berlin Wall fell on them.
By any objective criteria, this part is pure hogwash : Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, ...yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East
There is nobody as dumb as a dumb American.
Yes. You prove it daily. Tell us how NATO & Ukraine are weaker now than they were 4 years ago
or how great Putin is doing in Syria, working with Assad & Erdogan.
All that shine can gloss it over. I’ll let you tell us.
Trump Is Finishing Russia’s Smear Campaign Against America
In 2016, Putin had a plan to discredit U.S. elections. In 2020, Republicans are executing it.
By WILLIAM SALETAN
DEC 11, 2020
Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, and abandoned America’s commitments to democracy and human rights. He has excused Vladimir Putin’s crimes, yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East, and dismissed Russia’s 2016 election interference as a hoax. Now Trump has been voted out by Americans, but he’s still serving Russia. He’s devoting his final days in office—and suggesting he might devote his post-presidency—to a longstanding Russian objective: destroying faith in U.S. elections.
For weeks, Trump has rejected Joe Biden’s victory as a fraud. In interviews, tweets, speeches, and a campaign rally in Georgia, Trump has accused Democrats of using dead people, undocumented immigrants, and software to manipulate the outcome. These allegations aren’t just lies. They’re replications, almost word for word, of propaganda that was spread by Russia in the United States and adopted by the Trump campaign in 2016. Russia expected Trump to lose that election, and it planned to portray his loss as evidence that American elections were rigged, that the U.S. government was illegitimate, and that the United States wasn’t really a democracy. Now that Trump has lost to Biden, that campaign of slander is underway. But it’s not being driven by Russians. It’s being driven by Republicans.
Russia’s strategy is detailed in three reports: one by the U.S. Intelligence Community, another by special counsel Robert Mueller, and a third by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. The ultimate goal of the operation wasn’t to elect Trump. It was to spread the idea that “U.S. election results cannot be trusted.” In 2016, Putin’s propagandists used fake Facebook pages and Twitter accounts (“Army of Jesus,” “Secured Borders,” “Tea Party News”) to plant bogus rumors of “voter fraud” in multiple states. They told the same horror stories and used the same trigger words Republicans use now: “rigged,” “dead people,” “illegal aliens,” globalist-controlled voting machines, “tens of thousands of ineligible mail in … votes,” and “voter fraud caught in Philadelphia.”
Trump and his followers parroted this propaganda during the 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump retweeted fake “#VoterFraud” updates written by Russian operatives. Kellyanne Conway, Brad Parscale, Michael Flynn, and other Trump campaign advisers also retweeted messages from the Russian accounts. When the Russians circulated a false rumor that voting machines were rigged against Trump, he repeated it on Fox News. After the election, when Russian front groups spread the word that “illegals” and “machines” had robbed Trump of the popular vote, he repeated that, too. “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” he declared.
Putin’s original plan, as detailed in the U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2017 report, was to assail Trump’s putative defeat, through Russia’s global media network and pseudo-American front groups, as a fraud. The Russians had even “prepared a Twitter campaign” for election night, with the hashtag “#DemocracyRIP.” The goal was to discredit American democracy and “cripple” the expected new president, Hillary Clinton, by glorifying Trump as “an outsider victimized by a corrupt political establishment and faulty democratic election process.” When Trump won, the Russians popped Champagne and suspended their plan.
...The next step in Trump’s service to Moscow might be a Trump media empire that lambastes the United States as a fake democracy. That’s what some American intelligence experts predicted in 2016: a “Trump television and social media venture” that would wage “an ongoing battle to tarnish the legitimacy of the electoral system.” Trump won that year, so the post-election smear campaign against American democracy didn’t happen. It’s happening now.
You have to remember, standing up to Russia doesn’t matter anymore.
...amazing how many opportunities we give the Russians opportunities to be right, but then there's nobody dumber than dumb Americans.
Especially those who let their social media ads influence them.
Our 50 distinguished IC Old Pros really nailed it on the Hunter Biden Russian disinformation campaign.
They've been on a roll since the Berlin Wall fell on them.
By any objective criteria, this part is pure hogwash : Donald Trump’s presidency has been a gift to Russia. He has undermined NATO, withheld military aid to Ukraine, ...yielded to Russian troops in the Middle East
There is nobody as dumb as a dumb American.
Yes. You prove it daily. Tell us how NATO & Ukraine are weaker now than they were 4 years ago
or how great Putin is doing in Syria, working with Assad & Erdogan.
All that shine can gloss it over. I’ll let you tell us.
Yes. The obvious move here is to ignore that Putin is attacking us, and keep trading with them.
How is Russia's behavior different from China?
Is it different because their goods are cheaper and made with more slave labor??
Re: All Things Russia & Ukraine
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 1:35 pm
by a fan
kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 1:25 pm
How is Russia's behavior different from China?
Has China hacked our Government institutions?
But yep, that may be splitting hairs.
We're doing nothing about either one. Although I will say, starting a Cold War with puny Russia is a nothing sandwich. Stop trading with them, and if NATO nations, especially Turkey, insist on putting up with Putin's nonsense? Leave NATO. NATO is pointless if we allow Russia to attack us without responding.
As for starting a Cold War with China? That's a lot more serious, with more serious long term consequences. Who knows how they'd respond.
Re: All Things Russia & Ukraine
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 1:41 pm
by CU77
Maybe China would stop buying American farm products??
kramerica.inc wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 1:25 pm
How is Russia's behavior different from China?
Has China hacked our Government institutions? You think China hasn't penetrated our cyber systems & stolen critical technology ?
Just compare their newest warships & military aircraft to ours.
But yep, that may be splitting hairs.
We're doing nothing about either one. Although I will say, starting a Cold War with puny Russia is a nothing sandwich. Stop trading with them, and if NATO nations, especially Turkey, insist on putting up with Putin's nonsense? Leave NATO. NATO is pointless if we allow Russia to attack us without responding. Doing nothing. We have more military power deployed & dedicated to NATO OR WPac than any other single nation on the planet.
As for starting a Cold War with China? That's a lot more serious, with more serious long term consequences. Who knows how they'd respond. Breaking News : we're already in a military Cold War, ...& the Chinese miltary is much more belligerent & holds greater power in their country than their US counterparts.
Re: All Things Russia & Ukraine
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 2:02 pm
by CU77
So, contra your new sig, opposing China no longer matters?
I'm so confused ...
Re: All Things Russia & Ukraine
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 2:12 pm
by a fan
CU77 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 2:02 pm
So, contra your new sig, opposing China no longer matters?
I'm so confused ...
You picked up on that, too, didya?
I can tell you exactly what Old Salt's position is: whatever Biden's position on both China and Russia is in the coming weeks? That's the wrong position.
CU77 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 14, 2020 2:02 pm
So, contra your new sig, opposing China no longer matters?
I'm so confused ...
You picked up on that, too, didya?
I can tell you exactly what Old Salt's position is: whatever Biden's position on both China and Russia is in the coming weeks? That's the wrong position.
And that's all you need to know.
...good point. I need to update now that it's no longer being implied (at least recently) that I'm a Russian secret agent.
FTR -- I was the USS Midway Battle Group's Senior Shore Patrol Officer (ashore) in Hong Kong for New Year's Eve 1977.